SteelSeries Apex M750 Review - Review 2022

The SteelSeries Apex M750 ($139.99) is an eminently customizable gaming keyboard that aims to satisfy even the virtually enervating personalization needs of professional gamers. No thing your game of choice or your playing style, you can probably find a style to simplify your keystrokes with this model. Like other loftier-cease gaming keyboards, y'all tin select from among a virtually unlimited number of colour combinations for each cardinal, just yous can also use the backlighting to brandish incoming conversation notifications, serve equally an sound visualizer, and much more. And that's before you fifty-fifty delve into the remainder of the settings. There is one potentially major downside, nonetheless: The Noon M750's single choice of switch type and its concrete compactness make information technology uncomfortable for regular typing sessions.

Gaming Simplicity

SteelSeries markets this board toward esports professionals, but of grade it will sell many more to enthusiasts and gamers who aspire to one twenty-four hours be pros. This positioning ways that it accommodates lightning-quick key presses and lighting customizations with ataraxy, only otherwise the Apex M750 is just near as barebones as gaming keyboards tin can get. Other than a single key with the SteelSeries logo embossed on it located adjacent to the correct-paw Windows key, the M750 doesn't deviate from the standard US keyboard layout, which means there are no dedicated media keys or any other buttons.

Some of the function keys do double duty as media and brightness controls, but you take to press the SteelSeries key first to use them, which makes it impractical to adjust sound volume or backlight brightness in the heat of battle. There'due south a x-fundamental number pad on our review unit, but you tin as well buy a version of the M750 without ane if yous want fifty-fifty more simplicity. The overall result is a polar contrary of the Editors' Choice Corsair K95 RGB Platinum ($129.99 at All-time Buy) , with its defended media buttons and row of six G-keys.

With no extra controls to contend with, the Apex M750'south design is also extremely simple. It measures ane.84 past 6.04 by 17.87 inches (HWD) and weighs 2.2 pounds, about the aforementioned as the SteelSeries Apex M500 ( at Amazon) . At that place'southward no USB pass-through to add majority, and the half-dozen.five-foot non-detachable cablevision is of the ordinary thin coated plastic diversity, non the thick braided kind you'll observe on boards similar the Das Keyboard X40 Pro. A matte black aluminium alloy finish lies beneath the keys, with no contouring except for very minor sloped top and lesser edges. That means there'due south nowhere to put your wrist, which many gamers will notice uncomfortable. SteelSeries manifestly recognizes this, and currently includes a free wrist residual with the M750, though it'southward otherwise a $14.99 add-on. At that place are no adjustable feet, either, which ways you can't alter the keyboard's orientation if y'all find it uncomfortable. The combination of the fixed-angle orientation and the lack of a wrist rest means that I typed this review on the Apex M750 with my wrists raised slightly off of the table, which was uncomfortable and almost certainly ergonomically wrong.

The Apex M750's simplicity continues with its switches, which SteelSeries designed in-business firm. They're called the QX2 Linear Mechanical RGB switch, and they are designed to do one matter: lightning-quick linear actuation. They do it well; the actuation feels similar to the Cherry MX Carmine, the switch of pick for many MOBA gamers, and indeed both switches take the aforementioned 45-gram actuation force. People who play games like Dota 2 adopt this blazon of switch because they aren't interested in physical clicks that tell them when they've depressed a key; rather, they just want smooth, quick travel.

For long typing sessions, however, the lack of feedback becomes tiresome, and you'll detect yourself wanting more "clickiness." This means the Apex M750 is slap-up at serving the esports customs, but relatively poor as a multipurpose mechanical keyboard. A skillful compromise between quick travel and feedback is the Cherry MX Brown switch found on boards like the Logitech G610 Orion Brown ( at Amazon) . Unfortunatley, unlike the Apex M500 or the G610, which can both be ordered with your choice of Scarlet switches, the Apex M750's only option is the QX2.

For a not-tactile switch, the SteelSeries QX2 design is exceptionally loud. There are no clicks, but there is a hollow hit sound that occurs every time you fully depress a fundamental. The Apex M750 likewise features n-key rollover, and so you can theoretically mash every single key at once and all of them will register as a keystroke.

Infinite Customization

Bold the QX2 switches and the minimalist concrete design of the Apex M750 work for you, a listen-boggling array of software customization options wait. You can forget nigh simplicity now; the SteelSeries Engine software is all almost precise command over every aspect of the keyboard's lighting and primal assignments. The master Apex M750 control panel is comprised of three tabs. On the first, Fundamental Bindings, you lot tin assign a central function (such as the letter "I," Page Up, or Caps Lock) to any cardinal on the board. You can too record and assign a macro to a key here, as well as define the function behavior (do you want it to play once, a set number of times, or echo until you press the push button again?). You tin even specify whether the function volition annals when you press the key or after you lot've released it.

On the Illumination tab, you tin select from among 12 lighting modes, including a Per Key Static mode that lets y'all modify the colour of a single fundamental or groups of keys. Fine tuning options include adjusting the speed and direction of effects like waves or ripples. You can also turn on and customize i of seven reactive lighting effects, which play each time y'all press a cardinal. Finally, there's a miscellaneous settings tab, which lets yous adjust the Apex M750'south polling rate, change the keyboard layout from the American English default, and fifty-fifty arrange the colour scheme of the SteelSeries Engine software itself. Once you lot're done customizing, you lot can save your configuration so that yous can revert to information technology if you change an individual setting later on on.

But the customization fun doesn't end there. In the chief SteelSeries Engine window, there's a new section dedicated exclusively to third-political party integrations. They include apps that let you use your keyboard lighting to brandish game state information (think kills, assists, and health) in Dota 2, Minecraft ($26.95 at Amazon) , and other games. There's besides a Discord integration so yous can brand a prepare of keys wink when you receive a new message in the pop gaming conversation service.

Signing upwardly for a SteelSeries account lets you access your saved configurations in the cloud on whatever figurer, so yous don't have to rebuild everything from scratch if you get a new PC.

A Niche Well Filled

The Apex M750 fills a significant gap equally the flagship in the company'due south gaming keyboard lineup, situated above the Apex M500, which is most identical except for its choice of Cherry MX Carmine or Blue switches, its lower $99 cost signal, and its lack of customizeable backlights. The M750 is certainly worth the extra $twoscore (or actress $20 for the version without the number pad) assuming you can take advantage of the more robust customization options. Simply its appeal is express to professional gamers and enthusiasts who demand quick, linear key travel, don't care nearly G-keys or dedicated media controls, and have a second keyboard with switches that are more comfortable for typing and everyday PC use. If that's you, the M750 is an excellent choice, but brand sure you take reward of the gratis wrist rest offering. If you're a coincidental gamer who plans on using a unmarried keyboard for gaming and productivity, on the other manus, you should consider the Corsair K95 RGB Platinum.

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Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/migrated-32010-keyboards/18419/steelseries-apex-m750-review

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